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Semantics and Lexicography Phillip Louw, Bureau of the Woordeboek Van Die Afrikaanse Taal, Stellen­ Bosch, Republic of South Africa

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Semantics and Lexicography Phillip Louw, Bureau of the Woordeboek Van Die Afrikaanse Taal, Stellen­ Bosch, Republic of South Africa http://lexikos.journals.ac.za An Integrated Semasiological and Onomasiological Presentation of Semantic Information in General Monolingual Dictionaries as Proposed in H.E. Wiegand's Semantics and Lexicography Phillip Louw, Bureau of the Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal, Stellen­ bosch, Republic of South Africa Abstract: Herbert Ernst Wiegand is a very important figure in international metalexicography. A large part of his research has up to now been unavailable to the majority of the English-speaking world, because it has mainly been published in German. A new book Semantics and Lexicography seeks to break through this obscurity by providing English translations of a selection of articles spanning thirty years (from 1976 to 1996), which trace the development of Wiegand's views on semantic information. This book offers a valuable insight into the theoretical and corresponding ) 1 terminological development that has already had such a remarkable impact on the "practical sci­ 1 0 ence" metalexicography. 2 d e This article focuses on Wiegand's theories on the integration of the semasiological and ono­ t a masiological presentation of semantic information in the microstructures of general monolingual d ( r dictionaries. The theories are explicated and illustrated by examples from two Afrikaans general e h s monolingual dictionaries and evaluated in order to establish their relevance. i l b The conclusion is reached that the semasiological presentation of meaning is most appropri­ u P ately located in the item giving the meaning paraphrase, which should form part of the semantic e h t comment in an integrated microstructure. In the semantic comment, this item must be followed by y b dearly distinguished items giving onomasiological information, especially about synonymy. d e t n a Keywords: DEFINITION, FRAME, HYPONYM, ITEM GIVING THE MEANING PARA­ r g e PHRASE, LEXICAL PARAPHRASE, LEXICOGRAPHIC PARAPHRASE, METALEXICOGRA­ c n PHY, NEAR-SYNONYM, OBJECT-CONSTITUTING KNOWLEOCE; ONOMASIOLOGICAL, e c i l SEMANTIC RELATION, SEMASIOLOGICAL, SYNONYM, SYNONYM DEFINITION. r e d n u Opsomming: In Ge'integreerde semasiologiese en onomasiologiese aanbod . y a van semantiese inligting in algemeen eentalige woordeboeke soos voorgestel w e t in H.E. Wiegand se Semantics and Lexicography. Herbert Ernst Wiegand is 'n baie a G belangrike figuur in die intemasionale metaleksikografie. 'n Groot deel van sy navorsing was tot t e n i b a S y Lexikos 10 (AFRILEX-reeks/series 10: 2000): 119-137 b d e c u d o r p e R http://lexikos.journals.ac.za 120 Phillip Louw nou toe ontoeganklik vir die meerderheid mense in die Engelssprekende wereld. 'n Nuwe boek Semantics and uxicography poog om sy werk beter bekend te stel deur Engelse vertalings te verskaf van 'n seleksie van sy artikels wat strek Qor dertig jaar (van 1976 tot 1996) en die ontwikkeling van sy sienings oor semantiese inIigting uit te Ie. Hierdie boek bied derhalwe 'n waardevolle insig in die teoretiese en gepaardgaande terminologiese ontwikkeling wat al so 'n merkwaardige invloed op die "praktiese wetenskap" metaleksikografie gehad he!. Hierdie artikel fokus op Wiegand se teoriee van die integrasie van 'n semasiolo'giese en ono­ masiologiese aanbod van semantiese inIigting in algemeen eentalige woordeboeke. Die teorie!! word verduidelik en geillustreer deur mid del van voorbeelde uit twee Afrikaanse algemeen een­ talig verklarende woordeboeke en geevalueer om hulle relevansie vas te stel. Daar word tot die gevolgtrekkiilg gekom dat die semasiologiese aanbod van semantiese inligting ten beste inpas in die item wat die betekenisparafrase aanbied, wat deel behoort uit te maak van die semantiese kommentaar in 'n gemtegreerde mikrostruktuur. Hierdie item moet in die semantiese kommentaar gevolg word deur deeglik afgebakende items wat onomasiologiese infor­ masie, veral oor sinonimie, oordra. Sleutelwoorde: DEFINIsIE, HIPONIEM, ITEM WAT DIE BETEKENlsPARAFRAsE AANBIED, LEKSIKALE PARA FRASE, LEKsIKOGRAFIESE PARA FRASE, METALEKsIKQ­ GRAFIE, NABysINONIEM, OBJEKBEPALENDE KENNIs, ONOMAslOLOGIEs, RAAM, sEMANTIEsE VERHOUDING, sEMAsIOLOGIEs,sINONIEM, sINONIEMDEFINlsIE. ) 1_ Historical context 1 1 0 2 The last three decades have seen a tremendous growth in the academic study d e t of the dictionary as a linguistic artefact. The publication of Ladislav Zgusta's a d ( Manual of Lexicography in 1971 proved to be a watershed in metalexicography. r e His detailed synthesis of insights from lexicology and the systems behind the h s i l secondary lexicographic process (Le. the actual compilation of the dictionary) b u in particular~ provided a foundation for other academics to build on. One such P e h academic was Herbert Ernst Wiegand. t y Wiegand has, however, not only expounded on existing theoretical b d frameworks, In 1984 he published his General theory of lexicography (Wiegand e t n 1984: 15). The focus of his subsequent research has rested heavily on the second a r g subcomponent of his theory of the lexicographic deSCription of language: the e c textual theory for lexicographic texts. In this textual theory those texts which n e c contribute to the transfer of semantic information in printed dictionaries play i l r an important role, as these are critical to the user perspective. e d n A large part of his research has up to now been unavailable to the majority u y of the English-speaking world, because it has mainly been published in Ger­ a w man. A new book Semantics and Lexicography seeks to break through this obscu­ e t a rity by providing English translations for a selection of articles spanning thirty G t years (from 1976 to 1996), which trace the development of Wiegand's views on e n i semantic information, This development is plotted from early, pretheoretical b a groundwork on metalexicography (in which discussions take place largely S y b d e c u d o r p e R http://lexikos.journals.ac.za Presentation of Semantic Information in General Monolingual Dictionaries 121 within the confines of linguistic jargon) through to lucid, metalexicographical formulations and analyses of items that contain semantic information. The book therefore provides a valuable insight into the theoretical and corre­ sponding terminological development that has had such a remarkable impact on the "practical science" of metalexicography. , However profitable a thorough discussion of the historical value of these articles may be, such a discussion does not fall within the scope of this article. Instead, it is the aim of this article to offer a synthesis of some of the most important threads running through these articles and to illustrate the practical application of the theoretical postulates. The medium for this illustration will be Afrikaans general monolingual dictionaries, with the Verklarende Handwoor­ deboek van die Afrikaanse Taal (henceforth HAT) as representative of standard dictionaries and the Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal (henceforth W AT) as representative in the comprehensive dictionary class. The focus of the discus­ sion will be on the integration of semasiological and onomasiological presenta­ tion of semantic information in the microstructures of general monolingual dictionaries. As not all articles in the book deal with general dictionaries, the focus will be on those that do, but the author also considers relevant postulates from those articles dealing with dictionaries for languages for special purposes. 2. The semasiological and onomasiological presentation of semantic ) information 1 1 0 2 Wiegand initially draws a distinction between semasiological and onomasi­ d e t ological presentation in monolingual dictionaries. On a macrostructural level, a d ( semasiological presentation corresponds to a strict initial alphabetical listing r e and on a microstructural level, to an approach emphasizing the denotative h s i l meaning of a word. On a macrostructural level onomasiological presentation b u corresponds to a thematic listing and on a microstructural level, to an approach P e h that emphasizes the semantic relations a word has with other lexical items in a t y specific language, e.g. synonymy, hyponymy, hyperonymy and antonymy. b d Wiegand points out that current general-purpose monolingual dictionaries e t n focus too much on the semasiological presentation at the expense of the ono­ a r g masiological presentation. He proposes a more integrated approach on a micro­ e c structural level which will see the semasiological and onomasiological n e c presentation of semantic information in separate article positions within the i l r semantic comment in a dictionary article. e d n u y a 3. The semasiological transfer of meaning w e t a 3.1 The term "definition" G t e n i The predominant view in metalexicography is that the denotative meaning of a b a lexical item in a dictionary is represented by a lexicographic definition. Defi- S y b d e c u d o r p e R http://lexikos.journals.ac.za 122 Phillip Louw nition types have been identified and qualitative criteria have been set as part of lexicosemantic theory. Yet the term "lexicographic definition" has gone largely unchallenged in metalexicographical circles as well as in editorial style manuals. In several of the articles in this book Wiegand questions whether "lexico­ graphic definition" is "an adequate meta lexicographical term" (Wiegand 1994: 241). He attempts to offer terminology with which one can describe the differ­ ent elements in the lexicographic transfer of meaning. Initially, he replaces "lexical and lexicographic definition" with "lexical and lexicographic para­ phrase". This shift seems to be motivated by a lack of faith in the seamless appropriation of the philosophical term "definition" for use in lexicography. By avoiding "definition" several of the terminological potholes, such as the differ­ ence between a nominal and a real definition, can be avoided as well. On this point Wiegand (1977: 93) states the following in his 10 theses on lexicography: Written, from an extra-communicative point of view, the leXicographic paraphrases should not be regarded as lexicographic nominal defini­ tions, but as rule formulations for the use of the lemma in conformity with semantic rules.
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